Instead of sending a card with a written message, send a colorful bouquet or nosegay with a message spoken through the meaning of flower color. The Victorians established a rich language without saying a thing, but the symbolism behind many of the plants and the meanings used in florigraphy came from an ancient past. An armful of gladiolus offered to someone who just made a great deal or completed a difficult task implies “strength of character.” Gladiolus in a specific color fortifies the meaning. Today the colors of flowers evoke certain emotions and florists take advantage of the flower color to create a mood through floral design. Combine flowers and the meaning of flower color for sentiments that speaks louder than words.

The History Of The Language of Flowers

The year was 1718 and the Turkish Ambassador from England’s wife, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, found herself enchanted and fascinated by the hidden language Turkish women used to send notes to lovers. The notes were not written on fine paper using a quill, but plucked from a garden or meadow. Flowers conveyed messages of love, anger, quarrels, and nearly any emotion the sender felt or wanted the reader to feel. Doubt lingers as to whether the first floral dictionary harked back to Lady Montagu’s letter, but without a doubt Madame de la Tour wrote the first floral dictionary, Le Langage Des Fleurs, making the language of flowers known throughout Europe.

Florigraphy, a romantic communication kept in secret became popular in the early 19th century which went hand-in-hand with the study of botany, a pursuit of wealthy ladies of leisure. Floral dictionaries presenting flowers and their meanings became the vogue. Elizabeth Wirt wrote the American version of the language of flowers, Flora’s Dictionary, in 1829.

Like the fussy style of the Victorian era, the language of flowers was intricate and intriguing. Even the gentlemen of the time took part in the fanciful flower messages. A young man offering a young lady a nosegay of lily of the valleys might be saying, “let’s make up,” after a minor disagreement between the two smitten love birds. The intricacies of the language of flowers involved learning how to send and receive secret flower missives besides knowing the various meanings of flowers and plants. Color added another dimension to meanings of secret floral messages.

Early Sentiments Of Flowers And Color

Le Langage Des Fleurs, the French flower dictionary by Madame de la Tour offers meanings for colors not specific to a variety of flower, but as a general rule of thumb. Amaranth, a reddish-purple color, stands for constancy and immortality. The color blue denotes pure love, economy, wisdom, respect, and piety. Loyalty and faithfulness are the characteristics of blue-violet. Green suggests hope, childhood, and symbolizes the maritime. The well-known concept of white for innocence continues to this day.

The colors of love, passion, and power begin with red. Passion and love, long associated with the color red, also means timidity according to Madame de la Tour. Pure love comes in the color of lavender. Bright orange means love of glory and regal purple sovereignty, power, pride, and ambition.

Not all is rosy in the world of color with deep grief symbolized by dark brown. The color gray, while less sad than black and brown, stands for moderate grief and melancholy. The finality of black expresses sadness, death, and mourning.

Sending a red flower no matter the cultivar says passion and love to the receiver. The next time a break-up occurs consider sending a bouquet of brown, gray, and black flowers to express sadness, the death of the relationship, and that mourning for the end of the relationship continues.

Several varieties of flowers that come in an array of colors have meanings assigned to each color of that particular species. Roses are a prime example. To most people roses say, “I love you,” but the color and even number of roses given pinpoints the sentiment. Send red rosebuds and the Victorian sentiment declares, “May you ever be pure and lovely.” Imagine a girl of 10 having a mad crush on her older brother’s friend. The friend responds to her uninvited attentions by presenting her with white rosebuds that tell her she is too young for love. A red rose tendered may suggest bashful shame similar to Hawthorne’s scarlet letter. White roses to the Victorian lass signified sadness while yellow offered friendship or the sentiment, “I rejoice in your friendship.” Pink roses stand for grace, graceful or lovely. Coral roses announce glory and an admiration for accomplishments. Send a message of pure love or genuine love with a lavender rose. Red and white roses warm the heart with a thoughtful wish, “May happiness be yours.”

The lily graces gardens with elegance and a regal bearing. Liles in various colors mean different things to the love sick swain of a bygone era. The white lily suggests beauty and purity while the yellow falsehood and untruth. The cup shaped tulip is a declaration of love. If handed a bouquet of variegated tulips the receive can be assured the giver thinks she has beautiful eyes.

The chrysanthemum’s ancient Chinese history is all about joy, yet the meaning behind the yellow chrysanthemum is jealousy and disdain. White chrysanthemums denote absolute truth and purity. Like the red rose, the red chrysanthemum stands for love.

Modern Meanings of Flower Colors

The Victorian sentiments vary from one floral dictionary to the next so one flower or color may have different meanings. Many volumes of the language of flowers were penned even into the turn of the century and today. Modern florists have a language of flowers that entice buyers to send more than a pleasing arrangement of flowers. Through the meaning of flower color ideas, emotions, and sentiments are conveyed regardless of the variety of flower.

Blue flowers calm the weary or anxious soul. A vase filled with blue hydrangeas gives the eye a restful reprieve from a long day. Graceful pink roses or carnations beams with the happiness of youth, innocence, and joy. The royal color, purple, stands for dignity, pride, and success today just as it has in the past. The color red glows with passionate energy and has long been associated with love, desire, and strength.

Color innocence in white; from weddings to christenings white flowers symbolize innocence, reverence, and humility. The sun shines yellow; a smile brightens a day, and yellow daffodils laugh with the joy of friendship. Nature’s green represents good fortune as in a shamrock and resilience as the return of spring after a hard winter. Lavender has a new color meaning in the world of flowers. Today lavender represents womanhood in all its grown-up glory of grace, refinement, and elegance.

Henrietta Dumont summed up the relationship between flowers and humans in the preface of her book, The Floral Offering written in 1852, “Why do flowers enter and shed their perfume over every scene of life, from the cradle to the grave?...It is for no other reason than that flowers have in themselves a real and natural significance. They have a positive relation to man, his sentiments, passions and feelings.” The modern meaning of flower color takes sentiments of the past and vitalizes them with a contemporary twist. Sending a bouquet or upscale design of flowers can mean so much more than just the beauty of the flowers. Messages hidden behind each bud, blossom, and bloom convey the thoughts and emotions of the sender. Next time an event that warrants flowers rolls around think about more than just the look, consider sending a message through the meaning of flower color.

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